gibran-theprophet

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Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf Editions.

The Prophet.

Kahlil Gibran.

Contents

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Kahlil Gibran. The Prophet.

Contents

Purchase the entire Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf on CD at

http://collegebookshelf.net

it to a cross and wrapped it up for forty days, a symbolic

incident reminiscent of Christs wanderings in the wilderness

and which remained etched in Gibrans memory.

Khalil Gibran, Gibrans father, was accused of tax evasion

and was sent to prison; the Ottoman authorities confiscated

the Gibrans property and left them homeless. The family

went to live with relatives for a while; however, the strong-

willed mother decided that the family should immigrate to

the U.S., seeking a better life and following in suit to Gibrans

uncle who immigrated earlier. The father was released in 1894,

but was undecided about immigration and remained behind

in Lebanon.

On June 25, 1895, the Gibrans embarked on a voyage to

the American shores of New York.

The Gibrans settled in Bostons South End, which at the

time hosted the second largest Syrian community in the U.S.

following New York. The culturally diverse area felt familiar

to Kamila, who was comforted by the familiar spoken Arabic,

and the widespread Arab customs. Kamila, now the bread-

earner of the family, began to work as a peddler on the

impoverished streets of South End Boston. At the time,

peddling was the major source of income for most Syrian

immigrants, who were negatively portrayed due to their

unconventional Arab ways and their supposed idleness.

In the school, a registration mistake altered his name forever

by shortening it to Kahlil Gibran, which remained unchanged

till the rest of his life despite repeated attempts at restoring

his full name. Gibran entered school on September 30, 1895,

merely two months after his arrival in the U.S. Having no

formal education, he was placed in an ungraded class reserved

for immigrant children, who had to learn English from scratch.

Gibran caught the eye of his teachers with his sketches anddrawings, a hobby he had started during his childhood in

Lebanon.

Gibrans curiosity led him to the cultural side of Boston,

which exposed him to the rich world of the theatre, Opera

and artistic galleries. Prodded by the cultural scenes around

him and through his artistic drawings, Gibran caught the

attention of his teachers at the public school, who saw an

artistic future for the boy. They contacted Fred Holland Day,

an artist and a supporter of artists who opened up Gibrans

cultural world and set him on the road to artistic fame.

In 1904 Gibran had his first art exhibition in Boston.

From 1908 to 1910 he studied art in Paris with Auguste

Rodin. In 1912 he settled in New York, where he devoted

himself to writing and painting. Gibrans early works were

written in Arabic, and from 1918 he published mostly in

English. In 1920 he founded a society for Arab writers,

Mahgar (al-Mahgar). Among its members were Mikhail

Naima (1889-1988), Iliya Abu Madi (1889-1957), Nasib

Arida (1887-1946), Nadra Haddad (1881-1950), and Ilyas

Abu Shabaka (1903-47). Gibran died in New York on April
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Contents


http://collegebookshelf.net 1

The Prophet. 1.The Coming of the Ship

Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved, who was a dawnonto his own day, had waited twelve years in the city of

Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back

to the isle of his birth.

And in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of Ielool, the

month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls

and looked seaward; and he beheld the ship coming with the

mist.

Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joyflew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the

silences of his soul.

But he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and

he thought in his heart: How shall I go in peace and without

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sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave

this city.

Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls,

and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart

from his pain and his aloneness without regret?

Too many fragments of the spirit have I scatterd in thesestreets, and too many are the children of my longing that

walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from

them without a bruden and an ache.

It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear

with my own hands.

Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made

sweet with hunger and with thirst.

Yet I cannot tarry longer.The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must

embark.

For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze

and crystallize and be bound in a mould.

Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how shall

I?

A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that give it

wings. Alone must it seek the ether.And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across

the sun.

Now when he reached the foot of the hill, he turned again

towards the sea, and he saw his ship approaching the harbour,

and upon her prow the mariners, the men of his own land.

And his soul cried out to them, and he said:

Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides, How

often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in

my awakening, which is my deeper dream.

Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full setawaits the wind.

Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only

another loving look cast backward,

Then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.

And you, vast sea, sleepless mother,

Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the

stream,

Only another winding will this stream make, only anothermurmur in this glade,

And then shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a bound-

less ocean.

And as he walked he saw from afar men and women leav-

ing their fields and their vineyards and hastening towards the

city gates.

And he heard their voices calling his name, and shouting

from the field to field telling one another of the coming ofthe ship.

And he said to himself:

Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering?

And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?


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And what shall I give unto him who has left his plough in

midfurrow, or to him who has stopped the wheel of his

winepress?

Shall my heart become a tree heavy-laden with fruit that I

may gather and give unto them?

And shall my desires flow like a fountain that I may filltheir cups?

Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me,

or a flute that his breath may pass through me?

A seeker of silences am I, and what treasure have I found

in silences that I may dispense with confidence?

If this is my day of harvest, in what fields have I sowed

the seed, and in what unrembered seasons?

If this indeed be the our in which I lift up my lantern, itis not my flame that shall burn therein.

Empty and dark shall I raise my lantern,

And the guardian of the night shall fill it with oil and he

shall light it also.

These things he said in words. But much in his heart re-

mained unsaid. For he himself could not speak his deeper

secret.

And when he entered into the city all the people came tomeet him, and they were crying out to him as with one voice.

And the elders of the city stood forth and said:

Go not yet away from us.

A noontide have you been in our twilight, and your youth

has given us dreams to dream.

No stranger are you among us, nor a guest, but our son

and our dearly beloved.

Suffer not yet our eyes to hunger for your face.

And the priests and the priestesses said unto him:

Let not the waves of the sea separate us now, and the yearsyou have spent in our midst become a memory.

You have walked among us a spirit, and your shadow has

been a light upon our facs.

Much have we loved you. But speechless was our love, and

with veils has it been veiled.

Yet now it cries aloud unto you, and would stand revealed

before you.

And ever has it been that love knows not its own depthuntil the hour of separation.

And others came also and entreated him.

But he answered them not. He only bent his head; and

those who stood near saw his tears falling upon his breast.

And he and the people proceeded towards the great square

before the temple.

And there came out of the sanctuary a woman whose name

was Almitra. And she was a seeress.And he looked upon her with exceeding tenderness, for it

was she who had first sought and believed in him when he

had been but a day in their city.

And she hailed him, saying:


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Prophet of God, in quest for the uttermost, long have you

searched the distances for your ship.

And now your ship has come, and you must needs go.

Deep is your longing for the land of your memories and

the dwelling place of your greater desires; and our love would

not bind you nor our needs hold you.Yet this we ask ere you leave us, that you speak to us and

give us of your truth.

And we will give it unto our children, and they unto their

children, and it shall not perish.

In your aloneness you have watched with our days, and in

your wakefulness you have listened to the weeping and the

laughter of our sleep.

Now therefore disclose us to ourselves, and tell us all thathas been shown you of that which is between birth and death.

And he answered,

People of Orphalese, of what can I speak save of that which

is even now moving your souls?

2.Love.

Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and

there fell a stillness upon them.

And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound

you.And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north

wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even


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3.Marriage.

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Mar-riage, master?

And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you shall be forever-

more.

You shall be together when white wings of death scatter

your days.

Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of

God.But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your

souls.

Fill each others cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same

loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of

you be alone,Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver

with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each others keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together, yet not too near together:

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each others

shadow.


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4.Children.

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,

Speak to us of Children.

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Lifes longing for it-

self.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to

you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you

cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them

like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living ar-rows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go

swift and far.

Let your bending in the archers hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also

the bow that is stable.


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They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.

Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights

is worthy of all else from you.

And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life

deserves to fill his cup from your little stream.

And what desert greater shall there be than that whichlies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of

receiving?

And who are you that men should rend their bosom and

unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and

their pride unabashed?

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an

instrument of giving.

For in truth it is life that gives unto life - while you, whodeem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

And you receivers - and you are all receivers - assume no

weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and

upon him who gives.

Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;

For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his gener-

osity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for

father.

6.Eating and drinking.

Then an old man, a keeper of an inn, said, Speak to us ofEating and Drinking.

And he said:

Would that you could live on the fragerance of the earth,

and like an air plant be sustained by the light.

But since you must kill to eat, and rob the young of its

mothers milk to quench your thirst, let it then be an act of

worship,

And let your board stand an altar on which the pure andthe innocent of forest and plain are sacrificed for that which

is purer and still more innocent in many.

When you kill a beast say to him in your heart,

By the same power that slays you, I to am slain; and I too


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shall be consumed. For the law that delivered you into my

hand shall deliver me into a mightier hand.

Your blood and my blood is naught but the sap that feeds

the tree of heaven.

And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in

your heart,Your seeds shall live in my body,

And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,

And your fragrance shall be my breath,

And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.

And in the autumn, when you gather the grapes of your

vineyard for the winepress, say in you heart,

I too am a vineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered for

the winepress,And like new wine I shall be kept in eternal vessels.

And in winter, when you draw the wine, let there be in

your heart a song for each cup;

And let there be in the song a remembrance for the au-

tumn days, and for the vineyard, and for the winepress.

7.Work.

Then a ploughman said, Speak to us of Work.And he answered, saying:

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the

soul of the earth.

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and

to step out of lifes procession, that marches in majesty and

proud submission towards the infinite.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the

whispering of the hours turns to music.Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all

else sings together in unison?

Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour

a misfortune.


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But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of

earths furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was

born,

And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth lov-

ing life,

And to love life through labour is to be intimate withlifes inmost secret.

But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the

support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I

answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash

away that which is written.

You have been told also life is darkness, and in your weari-

ness you echo what was said by the weary.

And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is

urge,

And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,

And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,

And all work is empty save when there is love;

And when you work with love you bind yourself to your-

self, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,

even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.It is to build a house with affection, even as if your be-

loved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest

with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your

own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about

you and watching.

Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, he

who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul inthe stone, is a nobler than he who ploughs the soil.

And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the

likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for

our feet.

But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noon-

tide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks

than to the least of all the blades of grass;

And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into

a song made sweeter by his own loving.

Work is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste,

it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate

of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter

bread that feeds but half mans hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge

distils a poison in the wine.And if you sing though as angels, and love not the sing-

ing, you muffle mans ears to the voices of the day and the

voices of the night.


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8.Joy and sorrow.

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was

oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more

joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that wasburned in the potters oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood

that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you

shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is

giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you

shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has

been your delight.

Some of you say, Joy is greater than sorrow, and otherssay, Nay, sorrow is the greater.

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at

your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow

and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and bal-

anced.When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and

his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.


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9.Houses.

A mason came forth and said, Speak to us of Houses.And he answered and said:

Build of your imaginings a bower in the wilderness ere

you build a house within the city walls.

For even as you have home-comings in your twilight, so

has the wanderer in you, the ever distant and alone.

Your house is your larger body.

It grows in the sun and sleeps in the stillness of the night;

and it is not dreamless.Does not your house dream? And dreaming, leave the city

for grove or hilltop?

Would that I could gather your houses into my hand, and

like a sower scatter them in forest and meadow.

Would the valleys were your streets, and the green paths

your alleys, that you might seek one another through vine-

yards, and come with the fragrance of the earth in your gar-

ments.

But these things are not yet to be.

In their fear your forefathers gathered you too near to-gether. And that fear shall endure a little longer. A little longer

shall your city walls separate your hearths from your fields.

And tell me, people of Orphalese, what have you in these

houses? And what is it you guard with fastened doors?

Have you peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power?

Have you remembrances, the glimmering arches that span

the summits of the mind?

Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things fash-ioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?

Tell me, have you these in your houses?

Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that

stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and becomes a

host, and then a master?

Ay, and it becomes a tamer, and with hook and scourge

makes puppets of your larger desires.

Though its hands are silken, its heart is of iron.It lulls you to sleep only to stand by your bed and jeer at

the dignity of the flesh.

It makes mock of your sound senses, and lays them in

thistledown like fragile vessels.


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Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul,

and then walks grinning in the funeral.

But you, children of space, you restless in rest, you shall

not be trapped nor tamed.

Your house shall be not an anchor but a mast.

It shall not be a glistening film that covers a wound, butan eyelid that guards the eye.

You shall not fold your wings that you may pass through

doors, nor bend your heads that they strike not against a ceil-

ing, nor fear to breathe lest walls should crack and fall down.

You shall not dwell in tombs made by the dead for the

living.

And though of magnificence and splendour, your house

shall not hold your secret nor shelter your longing.For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion

of the sky, whose door is the morning mist, and whose win-

dows are the songs and the silences of night.

10.Clothes.

And the weaver said, Speak to us of Clothes.And he answered:

Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide

not the unbeautiful.

And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy

you may find in them a harness and a chain.

Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with

more of your skin and less of your raiment,

For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand oflife is in the wind.

Some of you say, It is the north wind who has woven the

clothes to wear.

But shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews


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was his thread.

And when his work was done he laughed in the forest.

Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of

the unclean.

And when the unclean shall be no more, what were mod-

esty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare

feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

11.Buying and selling.

And a merchant said, Speak to us of Buying and Selling.And he answered and said:

To you the earth yields her fruit, and you shall not want if

you but know how to fill your hands.

It is in exchanging the gifts of the earth that you shall

find abundance and be satisfied.

Yet unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice, it

will but lead some to greed and others to hunger.

When in the market place you toilers of the sea and fieldsand vineyards meet the weavers and the potters and the gath-

erers of spices, -

Invoke then the master spirit of the earth, to come into

your midst and sanctify the scales and the reckoning that
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weighs value against value.

And suffer not the barren-handed to take part in your

transactions, who would sell their words for your labour.

To such men you should say,

Come with us to the field, or go with our brothers to the

sea and cast your net;For the land and the sea shall be bountiful to you even as

to us.

And if there come the singers and the dancers and the

flute players, - buy of their gifts also.

For they too are gatherers of fruit and frankincense, and

that which they bring, though fashioned of dreams, is rai-

ment and food for your soul.

And before you leave the marketplace, see that no one hasgone his way with empty hands.

For the master spirit of the earth shall not sleep peacefully

upon the wind till the needs of the least of you are satisfied.

12.Crime and punishment.

Then one of the judges of the city stood forth and said,Speak to us of Crime and Punishment.


It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind,

That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto

others and therefore unto yourself.

And for that wrong committed must you knock and wait

a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed.

Like the ocean is your god-self;It remains for ever undefiled.

And like the ether it lifts but the winged.

Even like the sun is your god-self;

It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of
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the serpent.

But your god-self does not dwell alone in your being.

Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man,

But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist search-

ing for its own awakening.

And of the man in you would I now speak.For it is he and not your god-self nor the pigmy in the

mist, that knows crime and the punishment of crime.

Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a

wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto

you and an intruder upon your world.

But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot

rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,

So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than thelowest which is in you also.

And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent

knowledge of the whole tree,

So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden

will of you all.

Like a procession you walk together towards your god-

self.

You are the way and the wayfarers.

And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind

him, a caution against the stumbling stone.

Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who though faster

and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone.

And this also, though the word lie heavy upon your hearts:

The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,

And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed.

The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked,

And the white-handed is not clean in the doings of the

felon.Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured,

And still more often the condemned is the burden-bearer

for the guiltless and unblamed.

You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good

from the wicked;

For they stand together before the face of the sun even as

the black thread and the white are woven together.

And when the black thread breaks, the weaver shall lookinto the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.

If any of you would bring judgment the unfaithful wife,

Let him also weight the heart of her husband in scales,

and measure his soul with measurements.

And let him who would lash the offender look unto the

spirit of the offended.

And if any of you would punish in the name of righteous-

ness and lay the ax unto the evil tree, let him see to its roots;

And verily he will find the roots of the good and the bad,

the fruitful and the fruitless, all entwined together in the

silent heart of the earth.

And you judges who would be just,

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What judgment pronounce you upon him who though

honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit?

What penalty lay you upon him who slays in the flesh yet

is himself slain in the spirit?

And how prosecute you him who in action is a deceiver

and an oppressor,Yet who also is aggrieved and outraged?

And how shall you punish those whose remorse is already

greater than their misdeeds?

Is not remorse the justice which is administered by that

very law which you would fain serve?

Yet you cannot lay remorse upon the innocent nor lif t it

from the heart of the guilty.

Unbidden shall it call in the night, that men may wakeand gaze upon themselves.

And you who would understand justice, how shall you

unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light?

Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen are

but one man standing in twilight between the night of his

pigmy-self and the day of his god-self,

And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than

the lowest stone in its foundation.

13.Laws.

Then a lawyer said, But what of our Laws, master?And he answered:

You delight in laying down laws,

Yet you delight more in breaking them.

Like children playing by the ocean who build sand-tow-

ers with constancy and then destroy them with laughter.

But while you build your sand-towers the ocean brings

more sand to the shore,

And when you destroy them, the ocean laughs with you.Verily the ocean laughs always with the innocent.

But what of those to whom life is not an ocean, and man-

made laws are not sand-towers,

But to whom life is a rock, and the law a chisel with which

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they would carve it in their own likeness?

What of the cripple who hates dancers?

What of the ox who loves his yoke and deems the elk and

deer of the forest stray and vagrant things?

What of the old serpent who cannot shed his skin, and

calls all others naked and shameless?And of him who comes early to the wedding-feast, and

when over-fed and tired goes his way saying that all feasts are

violation and all feasters law-breakers?

What shall I say of these save that they too stand in the

sunlight, but with their backs to the sun?

They see only their shadows, and their shadows are their

laws.

And what is the sun to them but a caster of shadows?And what is it to acknowledge the laws but to stoop down

and trace their shadows upon the earth?

But you who walk facing the sun, what images drawn on

the earth can hold you?

You who travel with the wind, what weathervane shall di-

rect your course?

What mans law shall bind you if you break your yoke but

upon no mans prison door?

What laws shall you fear if you dance but stumble against

no mans iron chains?

And who is he that shall bring you to judgment if you

tear off your garment yet leave it in no mans path?

People of Orphalese, you can muffle the drum, and you

can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the

skylark not to sing?



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14.Freedom.

And an orator said, Speak to us of Freedom.And he answered:

At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you pros-

trate yourself and worship your own freedom,

Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise

him though he slays them.

Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the

citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as

a yoke and a handcuff.And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free

when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to

you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a

fulfillment.

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a

care nor your nights without a want and a grief,

But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you

rise above them naked and unbound.

And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights un-

less you break the chains which you at the dawn of your un-derstanding have fastened around your noon hour?

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of

these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the

eyes.

And what is it but fragments of your own self you would

discard that you may become free?

If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was writ-

ten with your own hand upon your own forehead.You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by

washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the

sea upon them.

And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his

throne erected within you is destroyed.

For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a

tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?

And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been

chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.

And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is

in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.

Verily all things move within your being in constant half



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embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the

cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.

These things move within you as lights and shadows in

pairs that cling.

And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that

lingers becomes a shadow to another light.And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes

itself the fetter of a greater freedom.

15.Reason and passion.

And the priestess spoke again and said: Speak to us ofReason and Passion.


Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your rea-

son and your judgment wage war against passion and your

appetite.

Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I

might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into

oneness and melody.But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peace-

makers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails

of your seafaring soul.



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If either your sails or our rudder be broken, you can but

toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion,

unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of

passion; that it may sing;And let it direct your passion with reason, that your pas-

sion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the

phoenix rise above its own ashes.

I would have you consider your judgment and your appe-

tite even as you would two loved guests in your house.

Surely you would not honour one guest above the other;

for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and the faith

of both.Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the

white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields

and meadows - then let your heart say in silence, God rests

in reason.

And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes

the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of

the sky, - then let your heart say in awe, God moves in pas-

sion.

And since you are a breath In Gods sphere, and a leaf in

Gods forest, you too should rest in reason and move in pas-

sion.

16.Pain.

And a woman spoke, saying, Tell us of Pain.And he said:

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your

understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart

may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily

miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous

than your joy;And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as

you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the winters

of your grief.

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Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you

heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in

silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by thetender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been

fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with

His own sacred tears. 17.Self-knowledge.

And a man said, Speak to us of Self-Knowledge.And he answered, saying:

Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the

nights.

But your ears thirst for the sound of your hearts knowl-

edge.

You would know in words that which you have always

know in thought.

You would touch with your fingers the naked body of yourdreams.

And it is well you should.

The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and

run murmuring to the sea;



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And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed

to your eyes.

But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown trea-

sure;

And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or

sounding line.For self is a sea boundless and measureless.

Say not, I have found the truth, but rather, I have found

a truth.

Say not, I have found the path of the soul. Say rather, I

have met the soul walking upon my path.

For the soul walks upon all paths.

The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a

reed.The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

18.Teaching.

Then said a teacher, Speak to us of Teaching.And he said:

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already

lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among

his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith

and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of

wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your ownmind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of

space, but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in



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all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the

rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of

the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct

you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to anotherman.

And even as each one of you stands alone in Gods knowl-

edge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of

God and in his understanding of the earth. 19.Friendship.

And a youth said, Speak to us of Friendship.Your friend is your needs answered.

He is your field which you sow with love and reap with

thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside.

For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him

for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the nay

in your own mind, nor do you withhold the ay.And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his

heart;

For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires,

all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is



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unacclaimed.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not;

For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his

absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the

plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deep-ening of the spirit.

For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own

mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprof-

itable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.

If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its

flood also.

For what is your friend that you should seek him withhours to kill?

Seek him always with hours to live.

For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter,

and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning

and is refreshed.

20.Talking.

And then a scholar said, Speak of Talking.And he answered, saying:

You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts;

And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your

heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a

pastime.

And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.

For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words

many indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.There are those among you who seek the talkative through

fear of being alone.

The silence of aloneness reveals to their eyes their naked

selves and they would escape.



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And there are those who talk, and without knowledge or

forethought reveal a truth which they themselves do not un-

derstand.

And there are those who have the truth within them, but

they tell it not in words.

In the bosom of such as these the spirit dwells in rhyth-mic silence.

When you meet your friend on the roadside or in the

market place, let the spirit in you move your lips and direct

your tongue.

Let the voice within your voice speak to the ear of his ear;

For his soul will keep the truth of your heart as the taste of

the wine is remembered

When the color is forgotten and the vessel is no more.

21.Time.

And an astronomer said, Master, what of Time?And he answered:

You would measure time the measureless and the immea-

surable.

You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course

of your spirit according to hours and seasons.

Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you

would sit and watch its flowing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of lifes timelessness,And knows that yesterday is but todays memory and to-

morrow is todays dream.

And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still

dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scat-

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tered the stars into space.

Who among you does not feel that his power to love is

boundless?

And yet who does not feel that very love, though bound-

less, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving

not form love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds toother love deeds?

And is not time even as love is, undivided and paceless?

But if in you thought you must measure time into sea-

sons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,

And let today embrace the past with remembrance and

the future with longing.

22.Good and evil.

And one of the elders of the city said, Speak to us ofGood and Evil.

And he answered:

Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.

For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and

thirst?

Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark

caves, and when it thirsts, it drinks even of dead waters.

You are good when you are one with yourself.Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil.

For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a

divided house.

And a ship without rudder may wander aimlessly among

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perilous isles yet sink not to the bottom.

You are good when you strive to give of yourself.

Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself.

For when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings

to the earth and sucks at her breast.

Surely the fruit cannot say to the root, Be like me, ripeand full and ever giving of your abundance.

For to the fruit giving is a need, as receiving is a need to

the root.

You are good when you are fully awake in your speech,

Yet you are not evil when you sleep while your tongue

staggers without purpose.

And even stumbling speech may strengthen a weak tongue.

You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and withbold steps.

Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping.

Even those who limp go not backward.

But you who are strong and swift, see that you do not

limp before the lame, deeming it kindness.

You are good in countless ways, and you are not evil when

you are not good,

You are only loitering and sluggard.

Pity that the stags cannot teach swiftness to the turtles.

In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness: and

that longing is in all of you.

But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with

might to the sea, carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the

songs of the forest.

And in others it is a flat stream that loses itself in angles

and bends and lingers before it reaches the shore.

But let not him who longs much say to him who longs

little, Wherefore are you slow and halting?For the truly good ask not the naked, Where is your gar-

ment? nor the houseless, What has befallen your house?

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23.Prayer.

Then a priestess said, Speak to us of Prayer.And he answered, saying:

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that

you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your

days of abundance.

For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the

living ether?

And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into

space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning ofyour heart.

And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons

you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again, though

weeping, until you shall come laughing.

When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are

praying at that very hour, and whom save in prayer you may

not meet.

Therefore let your visit to that temple invisible be for

naught but ecstasy and sweet communion.

For if you should enter the temple for no other purposethan asking you shall not receive.

And if you should enter into it to humble yourself you

shall not be lifted:

Or even if you should enter into it to beg for the good of

others you shall not be heard.

It is enough that you enter the temple invisible.

I cannot teach you how to pray in words.

God listens not to your words save when He Himself ut-ters them through your lips.

And I cannot teach you the prayer of the seas and the

forests and the mountains.

But you who are born of the mountains and the forests

and the seas can find their prayer in your heart,

And if you but listen in the stillness of the night you shall

hear them saying in silence,

Our God, who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that

willeth.

It is thy desire in us that desireth.

It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights, which are

thine, into days which are thine also.

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We cannot ask thee for aught, for thou knowest our needs

before they are born in us:

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou

givest us all.

24.Pleasure.

Then a hermit, who visited the city once a year, came forthand said, Speak to us of Pleasure.

And he answered, saying:

Pleasure is a freedom song,

But it is not freedom.

It is the blossoming of your desires,

But it is not their fruit.

It is a depth calling unto a height,

But it is not the deep nor the high.

It is the caged taking wing,

But it is not space encompassed.

Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom-song.

And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart;

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yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.

Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they

are judged and rebuked.

I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them

seek.

For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone:Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beauti-

ful than pleasure.

Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the

earth for roots and found a treasure?

And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret

like wrongs committed in drunkenness.

But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chas-

tisement.

They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as

they would the harvest of a summer.

Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.

And there are among you those who are neither young to

seek nor old to remember;

And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun

all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it.

But even in their foregoing is their pleasure.

And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for

roots with quivering hands.

But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit?

Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or

the firefly the stars?

And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind?

Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble

with a staff?

Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store

the desire in the recesses of your being.Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits

for tomorrow?

Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need

and will not be deceived.

And your body is the harp of your soul,

And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or con-

fused sounds.

And now you ask in your heart, How shall we distinguish

that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?

Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn

that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,

But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey

to the bee.

For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,

And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,

And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving

of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers

and the bees.



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25.Beauty.

And a poet said, Speak to us of Beauty.Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her

unless she herself be your way and your guide?

And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver

of your speech?

The aggrieved and the injured say, Beauty is kind and

gentle.

Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks

among us.

And the passionate say, Nay, beauty is a thing of might

and dread.

Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the

sky above us.

The tired and the weary say, beauty is of soft whisper-

ings. She speaks in our spirit.

Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quiv-

ers in fear of the shadow.

But the restless say, We have heard her shouting among

the mountains,And with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beat-

ing of wings and the roaring of lions.

At night the watchmen of the city say, Beauty shall rise

with the dawn from the east.

And at noontide the toilers and the wayfarers say, we have

seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sun-

set.

In winter say the snow-bound, She shall come with the

spring leaping upon the hills.

And in the summer heat the reapers say, We have seen

her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of

snow in her hair.

All these things have you said of beauty.

Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,

And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.

It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched

forth,

But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.

It is not the image you would see nor the song you would

hear,



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But rather an image you see though you close your eyes

and a song you hear though you shut your ears.

It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing

attached to a claw,

But rather a garden forever in bloom and a flock of angels

for ever in flight.People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her

holy face.

But you are life and you are the veil.

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

But you are eternity and you are the mirror. 26.Religion.

And an old priest said, Speak to us of Religion.And he said:

Have I spoken this day of aught else?

Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,

And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a won-

der and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the

hands hew the stone or tend the loom?

Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief

from his occupations?

Who can spread his hours before him, saying, This for

God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for

my body?

All your hours are wings that beat through space from self


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to self.

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were

better naked.

The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.

And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his

song-bird in a cage.The freest song comes not through bars and wires.

And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but

also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose

windows are from dawn to dawn.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.

Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.

Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the

lute,

The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.

For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor

fall lower than your failures.

And take with you all men:

For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes

nor humble yourself lower than their despair.

And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of

riddles.

Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with

your children.

And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the

cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descend-

ing in rain.

You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and wav-

ing His hands in trees.


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27.Death.

Then Almitra spoke, saying, We would ask now of Death.And he said:

You would know the secret of death.

But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of

life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day

cannot unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your

heart wide unto the body of life.

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are

one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent

knowledge of the beyond;

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart

dreams of spring.

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eter-

nity.

Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd

when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid uponhim in honour.

Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, tha

gibran-theprophet

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